JPJ, Miros probes company involved in Sepang bus accident: Loke

09 Apr 2019 / 00:05 H.

Picture for representation only.

SERDANG: The Road Transport Department (JPJ) and the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros) have been directed to conduct an investigation into the bus company CJ Global Travel and Tours Sdn Bhd after one of its buses was involved in an accident which killed 12 people yesterday.

Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook said a safety audit investigation would begin tomorrow by the JPJ and Miros.

“JPJ and Miros will go to the bus operator company with the address in Bandar Baru Nilai, Negri Sembilan for further investigations.

“I will get a report early tomorrow while an analysis of the investigations will be made by the JPJ to see if they (the bus operator company) had contravened any road safety laws or otherwise,“ he told reporters at a press conference held at the Serdang Hospital Emergency Unit here today.

He said so far, the bus operator company had not been suspended as it was still waiting for the findings of the report.

“If the bus operator company is found to have broken any road safety regulations, then it is possible that their operating licence would be suspended,“ he said.

Loke also said the company had nine licences — five factory buses and four tour buses.

“My ministry views this accident seriously and it is very saddening. The employers of the foreign workers who were affected must be responsible for sending back their bodies to their countries.

“I was also told that their embassies of the relevant countries have been contacted to inform them of the latest development,“ he said.

On the condition of the injured who are still treated at the hospital, Loke said some of the victims were still in critical condition and another was waiting for surgery.

In the accident, a factory bus plunged into a monsoon drain near the MASKargo complex in Sepang, near here yesterday, killing nine people including the bus driver S. Suresh, 43, at the scene.

Two more died while undergoing treatment at the Serdang Hospital and Putrajaya Hospitals, while an Indonesian woman who died this afternoon brought the number of fatalities to 12.

Early investigations by the police found that the factory bus was carrying 43 MASKargo contract workers who were travelling to their workplace from their hostel in Nilai, Negri Sembilan, and were due to begin their shift at midnight. — Bernama